How To Wire A Light Switch With 4 Wires

Push the new wired switch back into the electrical box.

How to wire a light switch with 4 wires. Multiple light wiring diagram. These two wires are the travelers to the 4 way switch. If the light switch has a ground screw on it usually green and at the bottom of the switch connect it now. To wire a light in your home start by switching the appropriate circuit in your fuse box to off so you can work safely with the wires.

An incoming hot wire which is black. The source is at sw1 and 2 wire cable runs from there to the fixtures. The cable going to the light switch is connected as follows fig 2. Next twist together like colored wires coming from the fixture and the wall or ceiling such as black with black and red with red then screw a wiring cap over the exposed ends.

Two or three wires will be attached to the switch. First of all we should connect the ground wires to the box. The third wire the red will not be switched at the 4 way location but passes to the final 3 way switch. Note that a 3 conductor cable is often used for connecting 3 way and 4 way switches to each other containing black white and red conductors.

Step 4 loosen the screws holding the terminal wires in place. A one way light switch is quite easy to wire up. The hot and neutral terminals on each fixture are spliced with a pigtail to the circuit wires which then continue on to the next light. The red wire from the feed cable is connected to the top terminal the red wire going to the light is connected to the bottom terminal the black wires from both cables are connected together in a plastic terminal block.

You should also see a green wire called a ground wire which attaches to a screw on the lower left side of the light switch. If you plan to connect the wires to screw terminals on the new switch bend a rounded hook onto the end of each wire using either needle nose pliers or the hole at the tip of the wire stripper. Alternatively you may choose to transfer one wire at a time from the old switch to the new switch. And sometimes a grounding wire which is green or bare copper there may be other wires in the box but you are only dealing with the ones connected directly to the switch.

A return wire which carries the load to the fixture and may be black red or any other color except green. Attach the wires to the corresponding terminals of the new switch. If the existing switch has a green ground wire attach it to the green terminal on the new switch or to the electrical box.